Darryl Strawberry Fields

1989 Upper Deck Team Checklist, #681

2010-01-15T15:22:00.000-08:00

Checklists were always so boooooring before Upper Deck came along and turned them into actual cards. I'm really not sure why companies included them to begin with, though I guess I'm just young enough to not really know how card collecting used to be before the internet. Nowadays, checklists in packs are absolutely pointless because their so readily available online.

But back in the day, if you were trying to figure out the missing cards from your Mets team set, you'd need this little guy:

A sketch on top of a sketch of Darryl Strawberry! It's nice to get a break from the typical Darryl action shot, this one being of him running the bases. There's nothing exciting at all about the back (other than the complete list of Mets in '89 Upper Deck, obviously)... you get the depicted player's name (some weren't so obvious), the team logo, name, and the list of players. 23 players in all... talk about inclusive.

1989 Upper Deck, #260

2009-12-30T16:03:00.000-08:00

Finally, the good stuff! Short lived as the "good stuff" may be, 1989 Upper Deck caused quite a stir in the industry. It brought us tamper proof foil packs, counterfeit deterrent hologram stickers, and one of the most iconic cards of the past 30 years. Even the card stock was a massive improvement over what Topps, Fleer, and Donruss had been using. Upper Deck was legit.

Not as iconic was card #260, Darryl Strawberry.

It's a nice enough picture, clearly taken during batting practice as you can tell by the BP blue jersey and flapless helmet. But wait - there's a full color picture on the back, too!

Two non-action shots on a Darryl Strawberry card? That's gotta be some sort of record. How is this NOT worth at least as much as the Griffey rookie!?!! Check out all those bats in the background...

This card is the real deal, too. How do I know this? Hologram, baby!

1988 Donruss (Orange border) #182

2009-12-08T09:51:00.000-08:00

I told ya we were done with the blue, but I bet you weren't anticipating the exact same thing except orange!

Again, no real clue what set this card comes from, but I'm guessing... Opening Day. I base this on the oddball Donruss look-a-like card from 1986 that happened to be from the Opening Day set. I could be wrong, and probably am.

1988 Donruss MVP, #BC-20

2009-11-19T15:03:00.000-08:00

This is the last, hideous blue bordered Darryl Strawberry card that I have, and of course it's from a set that I'm unable to identify. The front looks like a normal issue '88 Donruss:

This picture was clearly taken just after the gates opened because you can count the people in the stands. Well, almost - I counted approximately 22, but it's too blurry to be very accurate. But the real question (for me) is where did this card come from? The back also looks like a normal '88 Donruss card, except for the numbering:

At first, I was getting a bit down on myself for not knowing where half of my late '80s Strawberry cards come from. Not that I base my self-worth on junk wax knowledge (or lack thereof), but it'd be nice to know. But I got to thinking that perhaps this is why we refer to the late '80s and early to mid '90s as the junk wax era: cards came from everywhere.

They were in cereal boxes. They were in cookies. They were at the bottom of slurpees. They were made by K-Mart. Seriously, baseball cards were everywhere you looked, and not in a good way.

Any knowledge you might have about this particular card would be greatly appreciated. As for me, I'm just ready to put the blue Donruss borders behind us.

1988 Donruss All-Star #34

2009-10-23T14:43:00.000-07:00

Sticking with 1988 Donruss/Leaf is a card from what appears to be a separate "All-Star" set. Hmmm...

You'd think I'd know a little more about my Darryl Strawberry cards, but the truth is that I obtained so many of these when I was younger that I just can't recall where they came from. I thought this particular card was a part of the regular '88 Donruss set when I first came across it, but that doesn't appear to be the case.

OK, so the front appears to be normal ol' Donruss card, but the back has a different shape around the number: a star instead of a baseball.

Nothing else is unusual about the card. You've got the typical paragraph explaining the early start to what coulda-shoulda been the best career ever, and as usual the card maker makes an awkward attempt to keep the sentences as concise as possible, grammar and punctuation be damned. I say awkward because they never shorten things as much as possible, even if their oversight would've been a better way of wording things. Take the very last line, for example: "...leading all first-year NL players in HR...". They could've simply said "all NL rookies." Boom! 10 characters, gone.

The "1987 Oakland All-Star Game" logo on the bottom right of the card is what makes me think this may have been a limited release set.

Of course, limited by 1988 standards means a hundred thousand sets.

1988 Leaf #220

2009-10-13T15:25:00.000-07:00

Quick and easy post today of Strawberry's 1988 Leaf card. No sense in going much in to detail since the card is largely unchanged from the American version, save for the French translations on the back and the "LEAF" logo on the front:

I did stumble in to one curious omission on the back. See where there's just one sentence in English, at the bottom? Well, there are two French sentences!!

Literally translated (at www.freetranslation.com), it says, "one among 8 players of the baseball has to do to mark and has to mark more than 100 points the last annee".

Errrrr... what? A little help from any French speakers out there, please!

And also, it's "runs", not "points." A translation error, I'm sure. Looking at the actual stats on the card, the only two significant numbers in the hundreds are Strawberry's RBI (104) and Runs (108) totals from the 1987 season, so I'm going out on a limb and guessing it has something to do with those two categories. I wonder why the French speakers got this added bit of info???

Who knows.

1988 Donruss #439

2009-09-25T14:48:00.000-07:00

Close your eyes, kids, this post is gonna get ugly.

For some reason, when I think of overproduced cards of the late '80s and early '90s, I think of 1988 Donruss. Maybe it's because I have a billion of them laying around even though I don't remember ever opening them when I was a kid, or maybe it's because they're made of the cheapest card stock possible and are nearly impossible to keep in reasonable condition. I don't know. But a Strawberry card is a Strawberry card, so his '88 Donruss #439 must be posted.

Typical shot of Straw waiting to turn on a fastball. Half of Straw's cards from the '80s show this same pose, so I'm not knocking Donruss for doing what everyone else was doing. What I don't like is the border. Could it be any more uninspired? Black... blue... red... repeat.

The back:

Like the front, nothing to get excited about, but I always get a kick out of arbitrary abbreviations. If I didn't know any better, I'd think the writers texted in their blurbs for publication. "No. 1 choice in 6/80 am. draft." First off, to be less confusing, it should at least say 06/80, especially since they're referring to an event eight years prior to the printing of this card. It's not exactly fresh in everyone's mind. Sure, I figured out what they meant fairly quickly, but they could've squeezed in another character. Although for some reason my mind still processes the line as 6/80 morning draft because of the "am". Six o'clock in the morning?! That's awfully early for a draft that isn't televised, anyway!

1988 Fleer #637

2009-09-24T08:08:00.000-07:00

First off, I want to give a truly sincere apology for not keeping up with posting to Darryl Strawberry Fields. I've been busy (as has everybody else in the world), and planned ahead with my other site, The Priceless Pursuit, but not so much this one. I'm sure nobody out there even cares all that much, but I just wanted to let you all know that DSF is back!

And what better card to get things started again than 1988 Fleer #637, Crunch Time: Darryl Strawberry and Eric Davis!

'88 Fleer is still one of my favorite designs from the late '80s. That's not saying a whole lot since most cards in that time period were absolutely hideous, but white backgrounds are timeless. And could there be two hotter '80s prospects to feature on one card?? I've always liked cards with more than one player on them - it's a nice little bonus, some added bang for the buck. Straw and Davis were absolute studs, so pulling this card in 1988 was truly a thrill.

Of course, I've pulled the card about 30 times since then, but that's just a testament to the absurd overproduction of cards two decades ago. Can't blame Straw for that.

If digital cameras had been around in 1988, the photographer surely would've taken at least one more picture of the two. Davis looks serious enough, but Darryl's moth is hanging open as if he's telling the cameraman to hold on a second, he's not ready. Both players are wearing road gray pants, so it must've been during Spring Training.

This card reminds me of a t-shirt I once had, featuring the two players as teammates on the Dodgers. On the front was Darry Strawberry, on the back was Davis. Through the middle of the shirt (essentially connecting the front pic to the back) it read, "Bat 2 Bat". Like back to back, like in the batting order. Get it?

As for the back of the card (see what I did there?), the card highlights how both players went from mere prospects to superstars and mentions the crazy 1987 seasons both players had, even by today's standards: Davis hit .293 with 37 homers and 50 stolen bases, Strawberry hit 39 homers and stole 36 bases. Remember, this was 1987! Those numbers were prodigious back then and would be MVP caliber in 2009.

It's good to be back! Darryl Strawberry fields is much more niche than my broader site, but I enjoy it just as much, and I hope you do, too. I've scanned enough cards ahead of time to ensure I don't fall too far behind again, even if I do post a bit less frequently than I do over at The Priceless Pursuit..

Moving

2009-08-18T09:48:00.000-07:00

The site's not going anywhere, but I am. The wife and I just purchased our new home and have been absolutely slammed with packing, cleaning, painting, moving, and now unpacking. I've been a bit negligent when it comes to keeping this site updated, but rest assured that I'm aware of that and will be back to posting Darryl Strawberry cards with some semblance of regularity very soon!

I planned well enough with my other site, The Priceless Pursuit, and wrote lots of entries in advance, so visit it for more regular updates!

Duo-tang-ks a lot!

2009-07-22T15:04:00.000-07:00

OK, if you found your way here from the link I posted at The Priceless Pursuit, you can see that I'm double dipping on the posts today. Perhaps the two sites have different readers, and I'd hate for a gift like the one I recently received to go unrecognized.

Duo-tang-ks... thanks... get it? No?? I think it's fairly creative, and I'm nothing if not a sucker for horrible plays on words, so I'm gonna force this one down your throat. You may be wondering why I'm showing you a 1989 Topps card of Darryl Strawberry. Couple reasons: Darryl is my absolute favorite player (obviously) and also because Dave at Tribe Cards sent me a different "version" of this card, except much better.

Stay with me.

I want to give a big "duo-tang-ks" (now it's growing on you, right?!) to Dave, the king of crazy giveaways and easily one of the most generous bloggers out there. Check out his site and make it part of your regular reading if you're unfamiliar with it. Introduce yourself to him and sign up for a giveaway or two - you won't regret it!

If you're not in the know, you're no doubt wondering, "Why does he keep saying 'duo-tang-ks'?" (one more shot... is it funny yet?) Well, 20 years ago or so, a company by the name of Duo-Tang released a series of pocket folders that were actually blown-up versions of Topps cards, accurately depicting both the front and backs. Dave actually sent me two of them:

I have no idea how these were distributed, but I can only assume it was a regional deal. Pocket folders were always on my school supply list, and my mom always let me pick out my own folders, but I never had any Darryls. I distinctly remember an Eddie Murray from his days with the Orioles, and at the time our family was living in northern Virginia. I don't know why I'd pick out an Orioles folder for a reason other than this.

Thanks again, Dave! The wife and I are in the final stages of the home buying process, so we now have a safe place to keep all of our documents. After that's over with (IF it's ever over with - it sometimes feels like a never ending process), little Joseph III will some day have the coolest pocket folders in his class.

1988 Fleer #151

2009-07-08T21:47:00.000-07:00

I swear, the older I get the faster time seems to slip away.

My wife and I have had a lot going on in our lives lately, most importantly learning that our first child is going to be a boy - and no doubt a Darryl Strawberry fan, too! He'll be our first, so we're excited. I'm currently tricking myself in to thinking that I'll have lots of late nights to write about baseball cards while baby Joseph (the 3rd!) sleeps, though I've got a funny feeling that won't happen.

I'll still write, of course, but I'm told that we'll sleep when the baby sleeps. Which means I can write about baseball cards in the 20 hours a day he'll be awake. Yippee!

But enough about me - let's (finally) get back to the Darryl Strawberry cards. Next up is 1988 Fleer, #151.

It's an all too familiar pose of Strawberry crushing a fastball, this particular shot apparently taken in Wrigley Field. All of Darryl's accessories are the same, except this time he's wearing a gray undershirt. Must've been laundry day - to this point, he's usually rocking a blue or orange shirt underneath his jersey.

Unlike other Fleer issues a couple years before and after this card, I like the design of this card; I think we've all got a soft spot for white cards (Allen & Ginter, anyone??).

I enjoy the back, too:

I could do without the excessive empty space between the stats and the bottom of the cards, and I've never understood the uneven colored columns. But I've never paid attention to the very bottom, where Fleer breaks down Strawberry's day, night, home, and road statistics. How progressive! Strawberry seems to have been best in home night games.

He must not have been a morning person.

Now on twitter!

2009-06-23T20:37:00.000-07:00

Well, sort of.

The Priceless Pursuit - my other site - is on twitter. If you like Darryl Strawberry, you probably grew up in the same era of baseball as I did, so you'll like the broader card entries over there. Seriously, check it out.

Keep updated on my "priceless pursuit" of the junk wax era of card collecting, along with cheaper purchases of newer products, in short 140 character snippets at twitter!

Follow Priceless_Cards, and you'll never miss an entry!

In the mean time, thanks for reading Darryl Strawberry Fields! More great entries coming soon...

1988 Score #360 of 660

2009-06-17T20:12:00.000-07:00

We're going from one of the most visually appealing Strawberry cards in my collection to something definitely not so visually appealing: 1988 Score.

I'm sorry, but the green just doesn't work for me. Why couldn't Score have color coded this set with colors more appropriate for the player pictured? Topps did, so it couldn't have been that difficult. They captured a nice enough action shot of Straw, taken just a fraction of a second before the ball was launched in to the grand stands, but the green is soooo ugly. It completely ruins the card.

Things aren't any better on the back:

Red, green, blue... I don't get it. But if there was ever a writer who knew how to talk up a player, it was the guy who wrote the copy on the back of Darryl's card.

"Darryl has so much natural talent that it would not be surprising if he someday won the Triple Crown, stole over 50 bases and gained a Gold Glove, all in one season."

Woah, easy there. Wouldn't be surprising? I think that sort of year would turn a few heads, don't you? Continuing to get carried away, the writer describes Strawberry as "the first player picked in the entire nation in 1980." Technically, yes, Strawberry was the first player picked in the entire nation in the 1980 draft, but that's a flowery way to put it. The sentence describing Darryl has having "prodigeous power, terrific speed and a cannon for an arm" is yet another reminder of how great Strawberry could've been.

The way Score chose to display each card's number was a little strange. Notice that it's displayed as 360 of 660 as if it was serial numbered. That'd be an absurdly small print run for a card of the '80s! 360 of 660 thousand, maybe.

1988 Topps #710

2009-06-04T20:15:00.000-07:00

I think we'll all be thankful that Strawberry's hideous '87 Donruss Diamond Kings painting won't be the first thing visible at this site any more!

Next up, 1988 Topps #710:

Topps hit a grand slam with the aesthetics on the front of this card. I'm not a Mets fan, but even I can acknowledge that this is a perfect blend of blue and orange. It just seems so... evenly distributed.

You've got the orange "METS" at the top, the light blue border, the darker blue background behind Strawberry's name, and a whole mish-mash of blue and orange on Darryl's uniform. He's even wearing what appear to be "real" stirrups - as opposed to the fake stripe version. No wonder Strawberry was such an unstoppable force on the diamond: If you look good, you play good.

This was the first year I remember really liking the back of a card, or at least noticing it:

The orange just continues with the overall color scheme of the card. Even though all of the card backs in '88 were orange, it's especially appropriate on Darryl's card. We've got the game winning RBI stat (he had five in 1987, 47 in his career to that point), a blurb about his Texas League dominance (34 HR, 100 walks and a .602 slugging percantage in '82), and a shout out to the scout who signed him, Roger Jongewaard. Nice find, Roger!

The light, white baseballs across the top behind the player's name are a nice, albeit subtle, touch.

The only thing odd is the absurdly high card number assigned to a superstar of Strawberry's caliber, #710. Topps is notorious for assigning round numbers to the game's elite, but 710 seems like they almost forgot about Straw.

Roger Jongewaard never would've overlooked him. Multiple pages in my Strawberry binder are filled with this '88 Topps card.

1987 Donruss Diamond Kings #4

2009-05-26T20:22:00.000-07:00

It's the end of a decade at Darryl Strawberry Fields. I suppose there may be a few oddball issues from '87 left, but they're at the back of album and I don't feel like taking them out to check.

Let's say goodbye to 1987 with a bang. I can't think of any better way to go out than with 1987 Donruss Diamond Kings, perhaps Donruss's most recognizable subset ever. What set them apart was that they were paintings (this one done by Perez-Steele Galleries) instead of the usual blurry action or candid shots. I'm not sure what they're exact criteria was for dubbing someone a Diamond King, but they were all damn good ball players, so I'm assuming it was more or less an "All-Star" type distinction.

Darryl was rightly named a King.

This painting, though better than anything I could ever draw, was a disaster. Straw's cap looks like it was run through the washer a few too many times. His right ear (card left) looks like an elf's ear while his left ear is non-existent. His upper lift is swollen. There are four different shades of blue on his jersey.

Gotta give them credit for the "action" painting in the lower right corner, though - they thought of all the details right down to the stirrups.

The back:

It's strange that Donruss referred to the 1986 home run "race" as a home run derby. I looked up the actual home run derby from '86, the one before the All-Star game, just to make sure that's not what they were talking about. Turns out that Strawberry finished the All-Star derby tied for with the most home runs with Wally Joyner... with four home runs!!

Ha! Four. Oh how times have changed.

It's also neat to see a number higher than a million on a card. Strawberry's 1,619,511 All-Star votes led all of the major leagues.

Donruss ending things with prediction - that Strawberry would emerge as a dominating presence for years to come. How right they were.

Like what you've seen so far? Check out my new site!

2009-05-19T21:39:00.001-07:00

I'm only at the beginning of my Strawberry collection, and I've had a blast sharing the memories I have of all of these cards. Judging by the comments and emails I've received along the way, I can tell that Strawberry was a wildly popular player in his heyday.

Given that I was so young when I began collecting his cards, it's been fun interacting with other fans of his.

While sorting through the boxes of cards I've got stashed and stacked all over my home I've come across literally thousands of other cards I've got stories and memories of. I thought briefly of sharing them here, but convinced myself that the blog should remain Strawberry exclusive.

But if you like what you've seen, please check out the other site I've started, "Priceless Pursuit" - it features everything else I've acquired over the past 20 plus years of collecting. The cards are priceless to me, worthless to most anyone else!

Check it out, tell your friends, bookmark it, and visit it regularly! And don't worry - Darryl Strawberry Fields will continue to be updated regularly as well.

Join me in my Priceless Pursuit.

1987 Donruss #118

2009-05-19T21:27:00.000-07:00

Time for the "serious" 1987 Donruss issue, and to demonstrate that this set was no "Opening Day" they went with one of Strawberry's more serious pictures featured so far.

No cheesy grin. No look of admiration at a ball blasted in to the bleachers. Straw is warming up, and he's not messing around.

I don't know how I've kept this card in such good condition through the years. Older black borders tend to show wear and tear more than any other border type. The black border is the only thing differentiating this card from it's Opening Day cousin. The baseball "stripes" are the same and it still has that hideous purple behind the player's name.

The back:

Hardly anything we haven't read before. We knew he was a number one pick and we knew he led the Mets at some point in homers. Not sure how Donruss thought Strawberry's torn thumb ligaments in in '85 were a career highlight, especially considering he was out for six weeks because of the injury, but at least it's a new piece of information.

Only one '87 main stream issue left... what could it be? Hint: it's Donruss's most important contribution to the industry. Well, maybe it'll bring the memories rushing back! Stay tuned.

Chat with Straw

2009-05-15T11:30:00.001-07:00

Well, I didn't chat with him personally, but ESPN.com let users submit questions to Darryl on Friday morning. See the transcript here.

It wasn't for lack of effort - I submitted multiple compliments, but couldn't think of anything relevant or hard hitting enough to ask. ESPN has these chats almost daily, though they're usually only with their reporters and analysts. When they do give us a player, the only questions answered tend to be soft balls that we can easily predict the answers to.

Oh well - still a useful way to pass the remaining hours until the weekend.

1987 Donruss Opening Day #128

2009-05-13T19:26:00.000-07:00

Moving right along, 1987 Donruss Opening Day #128:

To be perfectly honest, I wasn't aware that Donruss Opening Day even existed until I looked up the exact set this particular card came from. It's a different color than the "regular" Donruss issue (which you'll see soon enough), so I automatically assumed it was from the Leaf set. Except there's no Leaf logo and no French writing on the back. A quick internet search revealed that Donruss released a 272 card set under the name "Opening Day" in 1987. So there ya go.

I really like the brick red border around the card; it's very clean. The baseball "stripes", if you will, look nice on the sides, just above the card's center. The crisp action shot depicts Strawberry taking off down the first base line just moments after putting the ball in play. You get a good closeup of his helmet, batting glove, jersey, dual undershirts (one orange, the other long sleeve blue), his belt, and even a little bit of striping on the pants. This card has it all!

Quick side note: The Mets blue and orange uniforms are sharp. The five striped sleeves are a bit much, but the colors go together nicely. The blue and orange caps have held up well through the years.

Speaking of holding up through the years, this card looks and feels exceptionally high quality given when it was released. The color hasn't faded at all, and the glossy coating is nowhere near as cheap feeling as the Topps All-Star sets featured earlier in this blog's life. In fact, the only thing I don't care for on the front of the card is the purple coloring behind Strawberry's name on the bottom. It doesn't fit with the rest of the card at all.

On to the back:

You sure that font is big enough, Donruss? Geez...

The typical biographical information is there at the top: name, birth date, etc. The career averages at the bottom are a little strange, as is the overall grammar on the card. Why are some stats plural (Games, Hits, Runs) while others are left singular (At Bat, Steal, Walk)? Makes no sense - the room is clearly there for an extra "S" or two. The blurb about Darryl's opening day heroics go from complete sentence form in the beginning to choppy and incomplete in the end. Sloppy.

And can Donruss use any smaller of a sample size to declare that Strawberry has answered ALL of his critics who doubted his determination? His first inning home run in the first game of the season silenced ALL of his doubters? That was easy.

It's unfortunate that Donruss didn't put half the effort in to the back of the card as it did on the front.

This is the only Donruss Opening Day card I own.

1987 Fleer #629

2009-05-06T20:33:00.000-07:00

For as little as I like the blue borders, I'll admit that Fleer outdid Topps' "Team Leaders" subset with their "SuperStar Specials" cards.

Take a look at #629:

Pictured left to right are Gary Carter, Sid Fernandez, Dwight Gooden, Keith Hernandez, and of course, Darryl Strawberry.

THAT is a stacked team.

I wonder if everyone is looking to his left on purpose or if more than one photographer was trying to get a picture at the same time? Is there a baseball card out there with these same five guys looking directly at the camera?

I'll let you read most of the back of the card yourself, but the last paragraph is my favorite "nugget" of info from any card in my entire collection:

"Manager Davey Johnson made extensive use of the computer to chart the offensive and defensive tendencies of the opposition, as well as his own team. He made all the right moves with this information to pull off such a great season for his team."

Bombshell!!! Scandal!!! The Mets were cheaters!!!!!!! Davey Johnson used a computer?!?!

What tendencies, exactly, did he chart? Computers were so primitive in '86 that using one couldn't possibly have been advantageous over good ol' pen and paper. And how did Johnson track tendencies and make "all the right moves" on the road? Actual, reasonably portable computers were 10 years away from existing and almost 20 years away from being commonplace.

Other oddities on the card: Bob Ojeda is mentioned on the back but not pictured on the front, and Darryl Strawberry's cap looks to be poorly cropped. This was long before the days when a cap fit snugly on a player's head, so I'm 99% sure this was a rush job. Notice also that Gooden, Hernandez, and Strawberry line up in numerical order: 16, 17, 18. Coincidence? We'll never know.

"Magic Mets", as Fleer dubbed them, is corny, but who am I to make fun of that team? Their 108 wins in '86 almost seems like an under-achievement.

1987 Fleer #23

2009-04-28T21:01:00.000-07:00

For a second, I was thinking about skipping to the end of my Darryl Strawberry card binder where I store all the odd ball cards, simply because I knew what was next - and there was no way it could live up to the wood grained goodness of '87 Topps. But I figured it was best to treat this card like a removing a band-aid: pull it off as quick as possible so as not to prolong the inevitable pain.

With that, I present to you Darryl's 1987 Fleer, #23.

Yuck.

This is easily one of the blandest card fronts of my whole collection. It's a boring shot of Strawberry, framed by a boring border, topped off with a boring font. And like the '86 Donruss I posted earlier, there's simply far too much blue.

Let's quickly move to the back:

At first glance, it seems almost as bad as the front. You've got the generic font for Strawberry's background info, and only half the card is filled with stats. The rest is open space filled with nothing but a strange candy-cane striped back ground - made even more strange by the fact that the thickness of the stripes is uneven.

Something I love, though, is the "How's He Hitting 'Em" feature at the bottom. It's overly simplistic, but it seems appropriate for the era. Hitters were classified in to one of four categories: dead pull hitter, power hitter, spray hitter, and singles hitter.

I'm guess spray hitter must be for those with "gap power", the 15 homers a year types?

Clearly, Darryl is labeled correctly as a power hitter.

The "pro scouts report" shows Strawberry's hot spots for the three types of pitches: fastball, breaking ball, and off-speed. The analysis? Fast ball low and away: In the cheap seats. Breaking ball over the plate: Darryl's trotting to first. Off-speed anywhere close to the plate? See ya! According to scouts, Strawberry could hit absolutely anything.

That's exactly how I remember him.

1987 Topps #601, All-Star

2009-04-21T20:48:00.000-07:00

Today's a sad day for Darryl Strawberry Fields. I've had a lot of fun revisiting my Strawberry card collection, but today's entry marks the end of an era.

With the posting of 1987 Topps #601, Darryl's All-Star card, I've reached the end of my cards with a faux wood border - but this one is the best of the best.

The front:

Lots to like here. It's nice to see the player name in a different location, written at the top of the card in yellow font over a red background. I always considered the league logos in the upper left corner a "bonus". I mean, I have 700+ '87 Topps cards (and that's NOT counting duplicates, of which I have thousands) with standard team logos. But a National or American League logo?? That's pretty cool... even if only to a five year old.

I especially like the "All Star" in the bottom right corner in nice thick font over sweet red, white, and blue stars. A nice, all-American tribute to what was once the country's undisputed pastime.

On to the back:

Makes sense to have a list of league RBI leaders, especially since Darryl was one of them. Having Mike Schmidt's name on the card seems like it should automatically increase its value. Strawberry came in at a solid seventh place for RBIs in '86 - certainly not shabby. Some other stats that Strawberry nearly led the league in that year (1986): Slugging percentage (.507, 2nd); On-base plus slugging (.865, 4th); Home runs (27, T-5th); Hit by Pitch (6, T-6th); Sac flies (9, T-4th).

Of course, I should also mention that he was tied for second in strike outs with 141.

And with that, I'm done with my "wood bordered" cards, and I ended with my favorite of the bunch. Upon closer inspection, this card suspiciously appears to be air brushed (as was common on jerseys and hats back in the day), but I can't think of any legitimate reason why Topps would have to do it. Could just be the lousy print quality.

I own over 20 of these cards.

1987 Topps #331, Mets Leaders

2009-04-07T20:44:00.000-07:00

With another opening day having come and gone, I can't help but think about how much the game has changed over the years. And what better way to take a glimpse at that change than a 1987 Topps Mets Leaders card?

OK, not a Darryl Strawberry card per se, but Darryl is on the card, so I count it as part of my official collection. Gotta love the bonus shots of Gary Carter and Keith Hernandez, too. Not too sure what to think of the double high five, fingers-interlocking hand slap that Carter and Strawberry are engaged in, but I'll look past that for now. They're not looking at each other, and I'm not sure if that makes the picture more or less awkward.

Looking at the stats of the leaders is what shows how much things have changed in the past 20 years. Strawberry led the team with 27 home runs. That's not bad for the 2008 San Fransisco Giants, but by most teams' standards that's a paltry amount. The rest of the offensive stats seem reasonable, but it's the pitching categories that get crazy.

Dwight Gooden's 250 innings is high, but not completely absurd. Bob Ojeda's 18 wins are fine. Two guys (Sid Fernandez and Dwight Gooden) with 200 strike outs is a luxury. Now for the crazy: Dwight Gooden led the '86 Mets with 12 complete games! That's insane. And not only that, but the Mets had three guys with two complete game shut outs... a team would be lucky to get just one complete game shut out from one guy this season, let alone two.

The save clearly wasn't highly regarded as a stat by the Mets (and still shouldn't be, in my opinion), as Roger McDowell led the '86 Mets with just 22 of them - though perhaps that was just a case of not many save opportunities being available on this stacked team.

I always liked the team leaders cards, probably because it was like getting two (or three, or sometimes four) cards for the price of one. So many superstars on just one "wood" bordered card! Who doesn't love that?

1987 O-Pee-Chee #379

2009-03-30T19:50:00.000-07:00

Got a short (but sweet?) entry for you tonight: the 1987 O-Pee-Chee "version" of the '87 Strawberry Topps card. The fronts of the two versions are identical. My only question: What does Darryl have in his back pocket?? Is it a THIRD batting glove? Did he keep the third glove in the packaging? It looks uncomfortable...

The back, in typical O-Pee-Chee fashion, features French translations of the English facts:

The only discernable difference, other than the O-Pee-Chee logos replacing the Topps logos, are the whiter card backs. Make no mistake - the card is not a glossy replica - it appears to just be slighty higher grade card stock.

I own three of these cards, no doubt acquired via ebay since I don't think I've ever lived in an area where O-Pee-Chee cards were sold.

1987 Topps #460

2009-03-20T22:08:00.000-07:00

Woah.

It's been a while since I last posted an entry on the site. Usually when that happens it's because I'm writing on my other site, Bad Baseball. Just some extra time killing material, if you're interested.

So back to Darryl...

Next up is 1987 Topps, number 460. If you've been reading this blog for a while, I've already written about the back of the card in the entry for the Topps Archive Reserve version of it. One thing that stands out now - that couldn't be found on the Topps Archive copy - is the game winning RBI stat. Darryl had 15 of them in 1986, and 42 in his career up to that point.

Quick aside about the "GWRBI": An official statistic from 1980 - 1988, it's the only statistic to ever have been officially abolished by Major League Baseball.

Back to the card.

I LOVE 1987 Topps. It certainly isn't heralded as the greatest set of all time, and it carries very little actual value. But this was the first set of cards I actually collected, the first packs I vividly remember opening.

This set has sentimental value to me, too. I knew that every time my dad picked me up from pre-school in Maine we were stopping at Grand City and picking up a couple packs. I probably didn't know a single player I was pulling at the time, because this would've been before I even started playing baseball.

I've always liked the "wood" borders, similar to 1962 Topps. I liked the team logo in the corner, the team colored box around the player's name, and even the font for the names themselves. The card backs were loaded with info: stats, a tidbit about the player, and an "ON THIS DATE" feature that gave you an obscure bit of useless trivia.

The packs these cards came in were also my first exposure to gum (if you could call it that). These days, a card grader would freak at the stains the gum usually left on the cards, but I loved it. A card that smelled like bubble gum?? Yes, please!

They should still make them like that today. A year or so ago I gave my nephew a pack of Topps Opening Day, and I was appalled to see a plastic wrapped piece of gum on top. It was (gasp) fresh! You could bend it without it snapping! You could chew it without shattering your teeth. Gross.

I own too many '87 Topps Strawberry cards to count.

1986 Donruss #197

2009-03-03T20:02:00.000-08:00

From the back of the card: Had 2 HR and 7 RBI in 1 game 7/20 last year vs. Braves... Missed 6 weeks of last season with torn thumb ligaments... NL Rookie of Year in '83... Led Mets in HR and RBI in '84, ranking 4th in NL in HR, 4th in RBI and 8th in slugging (.467)... MVP of Texas League in '82 when he hit 34 HR and had 97 RBI for Jackson.

Next up in my collection is the card from 1986 Donruss. It's a relatively sharp picture of Strawberry putting a ball in play. Compared to some players of today (Manny Ramirez comes to mind), Darryl's uniform is incredibly tight. Not "tight" as in "cool", tight as in it's a couple sizes too small. It's always amusing to me, too, that all of Strawberry's accessories - wrist bands, gloves, etc. - are team issued. No corporate branding, no NIKE swooshes, nothing. Just a Mets logo.

As for the card design itself, I'm not a fan. I don't like the dark blue/light blue stripes or the purple/yellow design around the player name. Maybe it seems worse because of Strawberry's blue jersey, but it all seems like a bit too much... blue. Even the card back is blue.

This is the first card of his, I think, that elaborates - albeit slightly - on Strawberry's contract. The back mentions that he's "...signed to a 5-year contract thru 1989 with opt for 1990."

This is the only '86 Donruss Strawberry I own.

Another gem from ebay

2009-02-25T12:34:00.000-08:00

First days back at work after vacation are rough, and that's exactly where I find myself this Wednesday afternoon. So what have I decided to do to ease my way back? Searched ebay for Darryl Strawberry stuff, of course! Here's what I found:

Very nice: a worthless card officially graded as worthless! I'm guessing the seller of this card is banking on the relative popularity of 1989 Upper Deck, the inaugural release of this brand, to bring in a little bit of money. Unfortunately, this auction takes place in 2009, 20 years after this card's heyday. Nobody really cares much about this set, at least not nearly as much as even 10 years ago.

Now, had it been graded a perfect 10, maybe there'd be a little interest from Strawberry collectors. It'd be a cheap way to own a "perfect" card. But that "PSA NM 7"?

No thanks.

1986 Fleer #96

2009-02-17T20:00:00.000-08:00

From the back of the card: Did you know? After missing 7 weeks and 49 games of '85 season, came back with 50-game stretch to hit .320, 15 HR, 45 RBI and scored 30 runs... Was 4th Met ever to hit 3 HR in one game, vs. Cubs in '85, and also had 7 RBI vs. Braves in July game... Led NL in homers in August with 9.

First off, I did not know all of that! Useless trivia, to be sure. Actually, I'm not even sure it qualifies as trivia - It's just a bunch of randomly pulled facts and stats.

The front of the card is a shot clearly taken at the Mets spring training facility, as you can see a practice field in the background. Darryl's forearms are bulging, which makes me wonder: When did steroids enter the game? Not saying he did or didn't use them, and I certainly don't feel like talking about the subject any more than this random thought, but I can't help but wonder. One thing about this picture is certain - Strawberry wasn't thrilled with having his photo taken. Usually he's all smiles on his cards, but not here. Must've been the end of practice on a hot Florida day.

I only have one of these cards, so I didn't scan the back, but it's fairly boring. It has the standard minor/major league stats, has a black border on the top and bottom, and is yellow in between. Not visually appealing.

Like I mentioned in the previous paragraph, this is the only '86 Fleer Darryl Strawberry that I own.

Strawberry pens tell-all

2009-02-11T09:40:00.000-08:00

Jose Canseco has blown the cover off the steroids era in a couple of books, "Juiced" and the sequel "Vindicated".

Joe Torre has exposed the Yankees and all of the organization's problems in his book, "Yankee Years."

And now, Darryl Strawberry is cashing in on his years with the Mets of the 1980's with his upcoming book, "Straw: Finding My Way".

A couple of excerpts:

We were the boys of summer. The drunk, speed-freak, sneaking-a-smoke boys of summer," Strawberry writes. "(An) infamous rolling frat party . . . drinking, drugs, fights, gambling, groupies.

On beer:

...was the foundation of our alcoholic lifestyle. We hauled around more Bud than the Clydesdales. The beer was just to get the party started and maybe take the edge off the speed and coke.

On the team's mantra:

...tear up your best bars and nightclubs and take your finest women . . . The only hard part for us was choosing which hottie to take back to your hotel room. Lots of times you . . . picked two or three.

My thoughts? Bleh. I can't see this book being any good. Didn't David Wells already write a book on this topic? Half of the stories in these tell-alls seem to be entirely fictional, if not absurdly exaggerated. I find it a bit ironic, too, that he already wrote a book, "Recovering Life", that talks about how he's recovered from this period of his life.

These books inevitably turn into a bunch of barroom stories bragging about how crazy their younger years used to be and usually aren't worth the time required to read them. Though they don't usually take a ton of time to read, because the writers/players often have the intelligence of a ten year old. If you've read either of Canseco's books, or John Daly's "My Life In and Out of the Rough," you know what I'm talking about.

But let's be honest, I'll probably buy it when it hits bookstores in April, if for no other reason than it'll add to my Darryl Strawberry collection. Read more about the book here.

1986 Topps #80

2009-02-04T21:38:00.000-08:00

Next up comes from the 1986 Topps set. Nothing too special here: a simple (in a good way, I think) front with the team name across the top, player name on the bottom, and position in the lower left corner. It's a good thing there weren't any truly valuable rookie cards released in this set, because the black upper border on cheap card stock has been nearly impossible to keep pristine through the years.

If I were a professional sports photographer, I'd do the exact same thing the guy who captured this particular shot did, which is take all my pictures during batting practice and warm ups, and then watch the rest of the game from the field. A bit lazy, and I find it hard to believe this was the best Strawberry picture Topps had on file.

On to the back:

While not the prettiest card back I've ever see, the red is definitely better looking than the green backs Topps had been using in previous years. It's got the personal biography, it's got the stats, and best of all... Talkin' Baseball!!!

I'd never, ever heard of Harry Chiti before this card. Traded for himself? Very nice. I find it strange, however, that he was listed as only the first player in Mets history... not all of baseball history, just Mets history. Did this happen all the time before 1986? It certainly doesn't happen now, unless you count a player being traded at the deadline and being resigned by his original team in the off-season.

I own eight of these cards.

You can grade those?

2009-01-28T11:06:00.000-08:00

Every now and then I'll venture in to a 7-11 for a Big Gulp before a day of house hunting, or perhaps to grab a coffee on the way to work when I run out at home (try the Blueberry - very tasty!). And every time I pull out a Big Gulp cup, I think to myself, "Wouldn't it be great if they brought back those little motion discs that used to be on the bottom of Slurpee cups?" You know, these:

I'd definitely buy more Slurpees if they did.

I have a couple of these discs in my collection; not of Strawberry, but of other players. But never in a million years would I think to keep it safe for grading. I'm actually surprised I didn't try to pass them off as pogs during that early '90s craze.

I'm a bit surprised these could even be graded. They must compare everything they grade to other similar items, right? Do people submit these all the time? The back doesn't even look centered properly, at least not centered enough to be considered GEM MT 10. But I suppose the card grading industry is feeling the impact of our crumbling economy as much as anyone else is these days, so they'll probably grade anything you send them. Why not throw a guy a bone and grade his worthless crap as flawless?

This blast from the past can be yours on ebay for "just" $30. The description claims that it's one of two graded as GEM MT 10, but I've got a funny feeling that it was only of two submitted at all.

As for my money, I think I'll stash every last expendable dollar in a savings account for now.

2002 Topps Archives Reserve, #88 of 100

2009-01-19T20:04:00.000-08:00

I'm back in business! And to reward your patience: this shiny card from 2002 Topps Archives Reserve. Oooooooooohh...

OK, so it's not so shiny after a scan, but in real life it is - I promise. It's got that refractor technology, which gives it a rainbow-y effect. Most of you know exactly what I'm talking about. If not, well, you'll just have to trust me.

I bought this card off ebay for a buck. Its probably not worth even that, but 1987 Topps is one of my favorite sets of all time (more for sentimental reasons, which I'll explain in a later entry), so this card is a pretty neat tribute.

The front of the Archives card is identical to the '87 version, just with the added shine and the Topps Archives stamp. It's also quite a bit thicker than the '87 is/was. And you gotta love the picture of Darryl waiting to launch a fastball into Shea Stadium's cheap seats.

Things get a little different on the back:

You can see the "original" back is squished a bit to make room for the Archives banner (for lack of a better word) on the bottom. It took me a second to find the actual number of the card since they kept the original number, 460, on the back.

Topps must not have allotted much money to their writers or research department; they dug up that Strawberry and his wife have a son, but they make no mention of his name. Seems a little strange, because I'm assuming the son being mentioned is Darryl Strawberry, Jr., who now plays professional basketball in Italy after a year in the NBA (according to Wikipedia, for the record). You might know him better by D.J., the name he's chosen to go by.

I have to admit: I never knew that on April 16th, 1959 (no clue why that date was chosen), Dave Philley delivered his ninth consecutive pinch hit for the Phillies. His '59 Topps card was number 92, just in case it's the one card you're trying to find to complete the set. I have no idea why this incredibly obscure stat was highlighted.

This is the only 2002 Topps Archive Reserve card that I own.

If it ain't broke...

2009-01-12T11:14:00.000-08:00

... Don't fix it. Problem is, my computer IS broke... so it's being fixed. Hopefully the new power supply comes in this week and I can get back to updating the site. Until then, make sure to check out some of the links on the right side of the page for some baseball card goodness to hold you over until Darryl Strawberry Fields returns!

A New Addition - or - A Christmas Retrospective

2009-01-06T19:22:00.000-08:00

You know how people always ask, "What do you get someone who has everything?" I wouldn't know because I'm not someone who has everything, but I bet people frequently ask, "What do I get Joe, a Darryl Strawberry superfan?"

Nobody probably asks that, either, but from time to time my Darryl Strawberry fandom (my wife would argue that it's bordering on obsession) must enter peoples minds during the holiday season, and it certainly did in 2008. But before I show off the newest addition to my Strawberry memorabilia collection, let's take a quick trip through memory lane...

It started when I was real young, probably five or six, with Darryl Strawberry Starting Lineup figurines. They were small, plastic figures put out by Kenner which would probably still have value today had I not taken them out of the box and staged mini-sandlot baseball games with them. It was a sad day when Benito Santiago severely chipped his right shoulder, causing his arm to completely detach from his body after collisions at home plate. Ouch.

I know I still have my starting lineups somewhere, but I'm almost certain they're still at my parent's house. I'll be visiting them in a few months, so hopefully I'll dig them up then. I had a Mets "batting" stance and a Dodgers "fielding" stance Darryl. I don't think there were all that many different Starting Lineups produced, so if you have any clue what I'm talking about you know which ones I'm referring to.

A good 12 years later (approximately) I unwrapped this under the tree one Christmas:

A 1998 World Series ball, autographed by Darryl Strawberry. I was thrilled; it was one of the first autographed balls I ever actually owned (though I had gone to countless card shows up until then with my dad - which is a story for a whole different blog entry).

Right around that time, if not the same exact Christmas, I got this:

A Darryl Strawberry Yankees shirt from my wonderful Aunt Lorraine! I still have this and wear it on occasion. It's in reasonably good condition, considering it's almost 10 years old, but only because it's worn just on special occasions.

And then came Christmas of 2008. I unpacked a rectangular shaped box, and removed this:

But wait, there's more!

THE DARRYL STRAWBERRY GARTLAN PLATE!!!! AND MATCHING SAUCER!!!! Serial numbered, too:

#298, an early production plate! I don't know what to say about this gift. First, thanks mom and dad; it is truly a priceless addition to my collection. I didn't even know the saucer existed. Second, I suppose I'm open to suggestions as to what I should do with it. Hang it? Find a display case? Dare I eat off it on special occasions, such as a birthday or baseball's opening day?

Something not very messy, obviously. Perhaps a hot dog.

Time flies

2008-12-31T08:48:00.000-08:00

First of all, my apologies for the lack of frequent updates over the past couple of weeks. Work in the advertising industry becomes incredibly hectic during the holidays, and coupled with out of work commitments - not to mention a desire for time to just relax - there just haven't been enough hours in the day to update Darryl Strawberry Fields as often as I'd like.

But not to worry; things will be back to normal shortly.

I've got a lot to get to, including packages from Tribe Cards and an awesome Darryl Strawberry related Christmas gift, not to mention hundreds of cards left in my collection.

Thank you, everyone, for reading in 2008, and here's hoping to an even better 2009!

Merry Christmas to me!

2008-12-24T16:21:00.000-08:00

With the rest of the week off from work, I figured at least a couple pack breaks were in order. It seems that I was destined to open these two 1994 Stadium Club packs on the day before Christmas. So, without further ado...

The first pack:

The first group:

Not too bad a start, by '94 standards. Both Listach and Hamelin had reasonably decent starts to their careers, each winning a Rookie of the Year award (in '92 and '94, respectively.) And the next bunch:

I've always liked cards of players signing autographs, so the Teddy Higuera was a nice pull. Also, that's a Zane Smith rainbow foil at the bottom... one per pack, baby! And then, there it was:

The first Darryl Strawberry I've pulled so far from the three boxes of packs I bought! I've opened a ton of packs, too; far more than I've shown on this site. Riding the high of pulling a Straw, I decided to open one more pack of Stadium Club...

The first bunch:

David Cone is always a nice pull, but not much else of even sentimental value from the first few cards in the pack. So let's move on to the second half:

I always liked Joe Orsulak when I was younger, but only because his name was Joe (as is mine, in case you're unaware.) But so far this has been a pretty crappy pack. Pretty crappy, until:

Yeah!!!!!! Back to back Strawberry pulls! And not just any Strawberry, this one is a rainbow foil, one per pack! What a happy Christmas this will be! I'm thinking of giving away the rest of my box of Stadium Club, because it's only downhill from here. Unless I pull one of those rare (relatively) and often counterfeited First Day Issue versions. I'm gonna hold off a while, though, and enjoy these two pulls.

On a serious note, this blog has been a blast to work on, and I've got lots more in store. Thanks for reading, and I hope you're enjoying it. Happy Holidays, everyone!

1985 (Donruss) Leaf #159

2008-12-22T20:21:00.001-08:00

I guess Donruss (or Leaf, whoever the parent company is/was) was afraid of O-Pee-Chee becoming a baseball card monopoly in French-speaking Canada; this card also features English to French translations on the back!

Quick research (aka wikipedia) actually turned that both Donruss and Leaf were owned by the Finnish company Huhtamaki, in case you were wondering. Back to the card...

I only own one of these cards, so no front/back in the same scan, and I don't feel like scanning it twice, so I'll give you the French translation (see the English version in the post below): Recrue de l'Annee dans la Nationale en 83...Bien que beaucoup ne considererent pas la saison derniere comme une bonne annee pour les joueurs de seconde annee, il fut le meneur des Mets pour les circuits et les points produits se classant 4eme dans la Nationale pour les circuits et les points produits et 8eme pour la moyenne de puissance (.467).

I don't speak French at all, but from reading through the translation I'm pretty sure RBI translates to "points produced." Points?! Words cannot convey how disgusted I am by this.

Other than the translation, this card is exactly the same as the all English version. The only other changes are the number and the green leaf on the front, next to the Donruss logo. I'm definitely not a fan of the leaf; it gives the card a cheap-promotional-giveaway look.

Like I said earlier, I own just one copy of this card.

1985 Donruss #312

2008-12-19T08:28:00.000-08:00

Now that we're through with the '85 Topps debacles, it's nice to see something with a colored border with Strawberry's 1985 Donruss card.

From the back of the card: "Rookie of the Year in NL in '83 . . . Despite what many consider to be an "off" sophomore year last season, led Mets in HR and RBI ranking 4th in NL in HR, 4th in RBI and 8th in slugginh (.467). Most Valuable Player in Texas League in '82 when he hit .283 with 34 HR and 97 RBI for Jackson."

Was Donruss not aware of his basketball playing days at Crenshaw?

Overall I'd say it's a fairly nice card; nice border, nice coloring. and while the yellow backing isn't the most visually appealing color ever, it beats the heck out of the weird "low on ink" color Topps used in '85. You know what I mean - it's the color you get when your ink is running low, but it's the end of the day on Friday and you don't feel like changing the cartridges, so the document comes out a strange faded mix of cyan, magenta, and yellow...

Unfortunately, the black border makes these cards nearly impossible to keep in good condition. You can see how nicked the edges are, and this card has been in a binder for 10+ years. Also, I forgot how thin the card stock was. I pulled it out of it's sleeve to scan, and it literally felt as thick (or as thin, however you want to view it) as an index card, if not thinner. Pretty poor.

Then again, the pack this card came in probably cost a dime. I'll take the savings, thank you very much.

There's only one thing I really, really dislike:

Why, Donruss? Why the shortcut? Can't you just spell out "through"? I HATE when people artificially shorten words, especially when it's unnecessary. There's plenty of extra space for the three extra letters.

Can't please everyone, I suppose. I own just two of these cards.

1985 Topps #278

2008-12-16T19:03:00.000-08:00

We've seen the light, and now we're at the end of the tunnel... the 1985 Topps tunnel, that is.

We end it with #270, Strawberry's #1 Draft Pick card, which I always thought should've come after his regular issue. From the back of the card:

"Darryl was chosen by the New York Mets as the first selection in the 1980 Draft. He graduated from Crenshaw High School, Los Angeles, California, in 1980, starring in baseball and basketball. Darryl batted .371 with 4 Home Runs in his junior season and .400 with 5 Homers during senior campaign, attracting national recognition. He helped Crenshaw capture a city championship in baseketball. Darryl delivered a Single to centerfield in his first pro At-Bat for Kingston of Appalachian League in 1980."

First off, we've got all sorts of strange punctuation going on here. Lots of odd capitalizations, especially, unless statistical categories are proper nouns? I never considered "Single" to be all that formal, but perhaps I'm mistaken.

The colors are certainly better on Darryl's draft pick card than those on his regular issue. The centering is much better, too. But the red font on green background on the rear of the card? Appropriate enough for the holiday season, I suppose, but come January - no thanks.

The national attention seems a bit unwarranted; are seasons of four and five home runs really that impressive? And while his average his high, .371 seems low for the uber-prospect Strawberry was. I mean, the scouts were obviously right in their evaluation of Strawberry as a major league talent, but they certainly saw something that didn't show up "on paper."

And why are they highlighting that he was the 1980 #1 Draft Pick in 1985?! Seems a little late, especially considering he already had cards issued in 1983 and '84. A sign of the times, I suppose. We'd have Bowman cards of Strawberry as a high school outfielder if he'd come around 15 years later. Better to be safe and wait a few years to make sure the guy lives up to expectations before they got all crazy with subsets of Straw.

Lastly, the mention of his city basketball championship seems horribly out of place. It's kind of like, "Darryl was an awesome high school baseball player! High average, good power... oh, and he played basketball, too! Led his team to a city championship, even! Wait... where were we? Darryl who? Oh, right... yeah, Strawberry hit a single once in the minors. He's pretty good."

I own five of these cards.

Searching for Straw!

2008-12-12T07:57:00.001-08:00

It's Friday - thankfully - and I thought, "What better way to end the week than busting a cheap pack of cards from my collecting heyday?" It was either that, or another card from 1985 Topps... you're welcome.

The pack: 1994 Stadium Club Series 2

I bought a box of these on ebay for $5, a deal too good to pass up. I hope Strawberry is in this series; Stadium Club used to print three separate series, with 300 cards in the first two, and whatever players they'd forgotten in the third (I always figured that's how it worked). Inserted randomly in Series 2 are "First Day Issue", "Dugout Dirt" which has cartoon drawings on the back, one-per-pack "rainbow" foil, and Bowman Preview.

On to the first group of super premium baseball cards!

No Strawberry's, but I got a nice action shot of John Kruk's mullet. I probably would've thought Jimmy Key was a good card, too.

Second group:

A Griffey dugout dirt! I've always liked the Mariners logo and colors, so I always liked this card. The second to last card is a rainbow foil Paul Molitor/Dave Winfield, two hall of famers on one card. I'm a baseball equipment junkie, so I liked the close up of Robin Ventura's glove.

A decent pack overall, with two hall of famers and one that will be as soon as he's eligible (Griffey), but no Strawberry.

Can you spot the difference?

2008-12-10T08:00:00.000-08:00

Before you think I'm reposting the '85 Topps card, take a closer look... can you see the difference?

Other than the one on the right being even more off-center than its look-a-like on the left, check out the logos in the upper left corners. The card on the right is 1985 O-Pee-Chee, #126.

For those not in the know, O-Pee-Chee is a Canadian company that had a deal with Topps enabling them to print and distribute Topps products in Canada. Though the company had been around since the early 1930's, the deal with Topps began in the mid-60's.

The only difference on the front is the corner logo; things get crazy on the back.

Ever wonder how to say "Complete Major and Minor League Record" in French? Easy: Fiche complete dans les majeures et les mineures. O-Pee-Chee helped card collectors everywhere learn the French language by providing translations under the English sentences!

So the next time you're lost in the heart of Paris, and you meet a Frenchman in a Strawberry jersey, walk right up to him and say, "Ses freres Michael et Ronnie ont joue au baseball!" The two of you will soon be lost in conversation about Darryl's ball playing brothers.

At some point it'd surely be helpful to know how to ask who hit the first grand slam in an All-Star game in 1983 in French, and once again O-Pee-Chee would come to the rescue, because that translation is on the card back, too.

Wondering how to translate "Baseball Trivia Quiz"? Sorry, you'll have to search elsewhere. O-Pee-Chee oddly omits this nugget.

I own seven of these cards.

Ebay thoughts

2008-12-05T13:21:00.000-08:00

This entry isn't so much a rant about a stupid Darryl Strawberry auction as much as it's a rant about card designs I dislike.

According to the auction header, this particular card is from 2005 Donruss Classics Stars. Without knowing anything at all about this card or this set, I'm gonna go out on a limb and guess that there's a game-worn parallel set at well.

How did I come to this conclusion, you ask? Simple...

ALL OF THE BLANK SPACE TO THE LEFT OF STRAWBERRY!!! It's absurdly obvious that a swatch of jersey was placed on the left side of some versions of these cards.

Thanks to a birthday present from my wife, I've recently developed an interest (Get it?! Developed? Just a little photographer's humor...) in advanced photography, and I've become familiar with the "rule of thirds". One of the major principles of this rule is that "good" pictures DO NOT have the focal point in the dead center of the photograph, instead placing the object in the left or right third of the frame.

This doesn't apply to baseball cards.

Cards like these are the pack of cards slap-in-the-face. "Hey there, collector, congrats on almost pulling a cool card! Instead, enjoy this lame non-game worn parallel! **SLAP!!**" Could Donruss have made this card any more boring if it tried? Why bother with the picture at all? Just have some of the cards feature a patch of a baseball player. That's it. No explanation of the player or team involved. Think of the savings for the manufacturers!! I'd be a little pissed I pulled the straight-up blank piece of cardboard parallel, but I've pulled enough checklists in my day to become numb to it.

My apologies if this trend doesn't bother you. If you're one of these people, you can buy this card for just a buck. And when it arrives, go ahead and slap yourself in the face.

1985 Topps #570

2008-12-02T07:54:00.000-08:00

Pop quiz: On July 6, 1983 who became the first player to hit a grand slam in an all-star game?

Easy right? The best guess, considering I pulled the question from the back of Strawberry's 1985 Topps card, would be Darryl Strawberry. But it's wrong.

The answer, oddly, is Fred Lynn. Not that it's weird for Fred Lynn to have been selected to play in an All-Star game, or that he hit a grand slam in one, but you'd think Topps would keep it's "Baseball Trivia Quiz" limited to the player on the front of the card. Or maybe not, and it was actually a genius ploy to get people to flip their cards over. Not that collector's weren't already; the inconsistent - but nearly always poor - photo quality on the fronts of the '85 cards leave much to be desired.

We are treated, however, to the nugget that Darryl's brothers Michael & Ronnie were also ballplayers. I don't know the highest levels they reached, since a quick Baseball Reference search returned zero results for either brother. They must've finished their playing days after high school.

As for the front of the card, yeah, the photo stinks. It's blurry, dull, and appears to be taken after a foul ball or strike out. Follow Darryl's eyes and he's not even looking high enough to see the first baseman.

I own nine of these cards.

Home stretch

2008-11-30T21:58:00.000-08:00

My apologies for the complete lack of posts in the past week. Thanksgiving vacation started a bit earlier than anticipated. Sometimes, life gets in the way.

But I'm back and ready for the home stretch of 2008! New stuff tomorrow (Monday, if you're keeping track) for sure.

Searching for Straw

2008-11-23T15:08:00.001-08:00

My first box of packs finally came! Unfortunately, I broke the mail key and it's stuck in the box specially designed for packages (it's bigger). So I'll post it as soon as I track down a carrier to open it for me. No worries though, my second box came and the mail carrier crammed it into our actual box.

So without further ado, I present to you a pack from 1992 Upper Deck! Let's see if there's a Strawberry hidden in there...

The pack:

The first group:

No Straws, and no worries. There's still more! I some how deleted the scan of the second group of cards, but there were no Straws so I didn't feel like rescanning them. So the final group:

Dang, nothing good. Literally. There wasn't single good card in the pack! I'm not going to subject you to all 36 packs that came in the box, but from time to time I'll post one. 36 packs, 15 cards per pack... there's gotta be at least one Darryl in there somewhere.

Ebay thoughts

2008-11-21T10:50:00.001-08:00

I always see these Gartlan ceramic plates available on ebay. Where did they come from? Were they sold on TV during those QVC (or whatever your home shopping channel of choice was) sports specials? Are they dishwasher safe? I'm always tempted to buy one, just for the ridiculousness factor it would add to my Strawberry collection, but thankfully I can always talk myself out it. One of these days...

I can't decide if it'd be cool to eat off one of these, or... weird.

1986 Fleer Baseball's Best No. 38 of 44

2008-11-21T08:03:00.000-08:00

At this point, the cards may start jumping around a little bit chronologically. For whatever reason, I have a bunch of 1986 cards lined up before some '85, and I'm sure it'll happen even more as I move forward. No big deal, I just don't want people to think I can't arrange years correctly.

This card comes from the 1986 Fleer Baseball's Best set, another one of those popular mid-80s glossy sets, and is numbered 38 of 44. Twice the size of those Topps Glossy sets, which was nice of Fleer. Nothing like added value, ya know?

Normally I like to point out what I find interesting from the back of the card, or at least retype what the card says. Not necessary here, as there is almost literally nothing on the back of it! Even though this was the case for Topps Glossy as well, at least they stretched out the design to use up all of the available space. But Fleer, not so much; more than half of it is blank. There must've been something interesting they could've come up with.

As for the front: not much of an action shot, but I still like it. I really like the patch on Strawberry's left arm, which research tells me was to commemorate the organization's 25th Anniversary. The jersey is of the v-neck pullover variety, which was fairly common back then. The photo is a glimpse of what things were like before Under Armor; note that Darryl is wearing an actual turtleneck shirt under the jersey. Very retro!

I wonder, though, why at the bottom, where it says "Sluggers" before Darryl's name, they chose to list his batting average?? And it's his major league career average, too, not from just 1985 or '86. Odd that it's listed on the back under "percentage", as opposed to "average". They should've gone with his far more impressive home run totals.

I own three of these cards.

On a non-specific card related note, I should be receiving the first of three boxes I've ordered off ebay today, so keep a lookout for the "Searching for Straw" feature. I can't decide whether I'll do it through videos or pictures... probably some of both. Speaking of ebay, isn't it frustrating when you're charged a premium for shipping and the seller doesn't bother to ship your item 2-3 day priority? I don't mind paying a little extra for shipping; I don't care if you charge $12 for a $9 flat rate box. Just don't charge me priority and proceed to send my item via media mail!

Mail Call

2008-11-21T07:46:00.000-08:00

A couple weeks ago I entered a contest over at Heartbreaking Cards of Staggering Genius. Upon finding out that I finished second, I was asked which player and/or team I collect, so naturally I responded with Darryl Strawberry and Yankees cards. Here's what I got:

The first card is a signed 2007 Topps Sean Henn rookie. I'm assuming that this was either obtained via mail or in person, as there is no sticker anywhere on the card. This is a good thing, as I much prefer a personally signed item over a sticker applied by a company representative any day of the week! Henn has a pretty crazy signature too. Loopy, big, yet illegible. Very nice.

Next up:

A 2006 Upper Deck game used Jason Giambi jersey. I LOVE game used cards, and have since they were first issued in 1997 Upper Deck. Unfortunately, while fairly common these days, they're still only inserted at rates of just one or two in boxes of more affordable cards, so I've only pulled a few in packs. I have plenty of cheap ones that I've won off ebay, though. Anyway, I love the stripe visible in the patch. I wonder if card companies wash the jerseys first, or if this card would reek of Giambi's sweat if I removed the screw down holder? I won't chance it.

No Strawberry cards, but still cool nonetheless.

Thanks, Matt at Heartbreaking Cards of Staggering Genius! You definitely need to make his site part of your daily routine.

1988 Topps Bazooka #21 of 22

2008-11-18T12:19:00.000-08:00

From the back of the card: WAS SELECTED AS ROOKIE OF YEAR IN NL FOR 1983.

Hmm, another 22 card set from Topps... interesting.

I have absolutely no idea how these cards were distributed. Certainly not like the Bazooka cards from the late '90s/early 2000's, which was a larger set and sold in packs. If they came inside boxed of Bazooka gum I wouldn't have known, since I probably wasn't allowed to have gum when I was six (or I was at least limited to the sugar free variety). It's not a particularly exciting card, either. Strawberry is just waiting his turn in the cage during Mets batting practice, perhaps checking out a Gary Carter bomb in to the Upper Deck. Or maybe a plane just flew by and it's actually Mookie Wilson laying down bunts... I guess we'll never know.

The back of the card is more colorful than the front, which is strange, especially for being 1988. I like the stats over the lightly colored "Bazooka" logo, especially the Game Winning RBI column. What a strange, old school stat to feature on a card! Straw was CLUTCH in 1986 with 15 of 'em. That is, if you believe there is even such thing as "clutch".

The line about his ROY award is odd. Why just "Rookie of Year", without the "the"? There's plenty of real estate for the extra word. Maybe Topps wanted "Rookie of Year" to stay on the same line, and adding a "the" would split it up? I doubt anyone would've cared.

I own three of these cards.

Mail call

2008-11-17T18:56:00.000-08:00

Got a nice Halloween package from David at Tribe Cards, a blog dedicated to all things Indians. Would it be a box full of tricks, or would it include a nice assortment of treats?

The answer: Both.

There was an oddly large amount of Delino DeShields cards scattered throughout. Not that there were hundreds of 'em, but any more than five qualifies as a lot, wouldn't you say? Especially since we're talking about Delino DeShields.

But among some of the treats:

Cards of Jay Bell and Greg McMichael are certainly nothing to get excited about, but 1997 Fleer (and the '96 set, too) is one of my favorites of all time. I really, really liked the matte finish, which Fleer pitched as being perfect for autographs. And they are, I guess, even though I've never had a '96 or '97 Fleer card signed. Soon, I hope, thanks to my addiction to this site. These packs also contained quite a bit of inserts, which I was in to at the time. I believe Fleer touted that one insert could be found in every five packs, on average! Madness!

Then there were these beauties:

Yeah, that's right! Jose Cruz, Jr. and Kerry Wood 1997 Bowman Best rookies! If only either of these guys could've lived up to their potential... Nobody EVER would've given these away 10 years ago.

The hilarity continues:

Silly Bret Saberhagen, that's not a baseball its an apple! I sure hope he didn't cut up and eat a baseball with his breakfast that morning. Also worth noting is the fact that this is a "gold hologram" variation, meaning the little Upper Deck hologram on the back of the card is gold, not silver. I'd read about these variations, thinking they might've been some "rare" subset inserted in packs, but research showed that the gold just means that this card came from a factory set. Still kinda cool, but it's sad that someone, somewhere, is one Bret Saberhagen card short of a complete gold foil set.

And of course, the best of the box:

There are more Darryl Strawberry cards than the scan shows, which is fine. You'll eventually see them each individually.

Thanks, Dave from Tribe Cards! Be sure to check out his site for more baseball card goodness. As I continue to sort through my collection I'll make sure to set aside all of the Indians and send them his way.

More from my personal collection coming soon.

Ebay rant 3

2008-11-17T11:54:00.000-08:00

The item you see above is so rare, so sought after, so valuable, that the auction very probably ended with a "Buy It Now" just seconds after it was posted.

All you see at first glance is a 1991 Score Darryl Strawberry #640, but look at the holder its in. Its that familiar red border of a PSA graded card... and now look at the grade: GEM MINT 10!!!!

Wow. I mean, there couldn't have been more than 20,000,000,000,000,000 sets of '91 Score produced, so this Gem Mint 10 is ultra-rare. If I had to guess, no more than 35,000 (Gem Mint 10s, I mean) are in circulation. And it could be yours for only $14.99? I'd feel like I was robbing the seller.

Riiiiight...

This card had to have been submitted among a massive quantity of cards to be graded, because what reasonable human being would ever submit a card from '91 Score for grading? At least the seller spared us a long fluffy description of why this card is so great.

Something I've always wondered, though, about the grading process that maybe a reader knows the answer to: Will PSA call you if you submit something stupid that they're only going to assign a grade of 5 or 6? I can understand something from, say, 1957 Topps benefiting from a 5, but not '92 Upper Deck.

OK, I know they won't call before taking your money, but can you easily remove the graded card from the holder it's returned in? If I were selling cards, I'd feel like less of a man for auctioning a PSA 7 of anything within the last 15 years. The average person likely wouldn't see any blemishes if they weren't pointed out on an ungraded card.

Anyway... the auction for this card ends tomorrow, so you'd better hurry!

1989 Topps Glossy All-Star #19 of 22

2008-11-13T08:50:00.000-08:00

Ok, wait a minute...

This is the third "#19 of 22" of the four Glossy All-Star cards I have. Is Topps even trying with this set? The background is so simple, so basic, that Topps isn't putting even a second of thought into the design. They're just editing the text box with the year and sending it off to print.

Why bother even changing the picture?

Well, this particular photo is so similar to the '86 card that it appears they hardly bothered at all.

In the 1988 All-Star game, Darryl went 1-4 with a strikeout, in case you were wondering.

This marks the end of my mis-cut, off centered, poor photo quality Glossy All-Star collection, so thanks for sticking with me through these tough times. Trust me, you'll be rewarded.

I've got a new feature coming soon, which I'll call "Searching for Straw." Or I might call it "Needle In a Haystack", because straw and hay are very similar. Or are they the same thing? I'm not sure; I have no farming experience whatsoever. Anyway... What I'll be doing is purchasing old boxes of packs and searching for Darryl Strawberry cards (see where I get the title from?!) and posting the results. And in the 700+ card sets from the late '80s and early '90s, finding any one particular card is tough, hence my alternate title of "Needle in a Haystack". Perhaps you all can comment on which title you like better. Comment quickly, though, because my first unopened box of cards is on the way. I'll wait until it arrives before I reveal the brand.

By the way, I own three of these '89 Glossy All-Star cards.

1988 Topps Glossy All-Stars #19 of 22

2008-11-10T18:51:00.000-08:00

Yep, another glossy All-Star... only one more after this, I promise.

For now, take a gander at the '88 card, number 19 of 22 in the set. I can't tell if Straw is sitting on a 2-1 count looking for the heat or if it's 3-0 and he's taking the next pitch no matter what. That's what was so great about Strawberry; you were intimidated every single time he stepped up to the plate. At least I bet pitchers were scared. I've never actually faced him.

Darryl went 0-2 in the '88 All-Star game. No big deal, there'd be others.

I own three of these cards.

1987 Topps Glossy All-Star #8 of 22

2008-11-05T20:25:00.000-08:00

Look everybody, another miscut Glossy All-Star! It's too bad they didn't put more time or effort into this set, the gloss was a nice touch back in the days before, err... gloss. This is a much better action shot of Strawberry, no doubt taken after a double lined off the center field wall.

Check out the starting line up from the '86 All-Star game. Absolutely loaded with Mets. Keith Hernandez, Gary Carter, and Darryl Strawberry batted third through fifth in the order, and Dwight Gooden started on the mound. Darryl had a mediocre day, going one for two at the plate.

I own 22 of these cards, most of them acquired via ebay auction.

1986 Topps Glossy All-Star #19 of 22

2008-11-03T20:14:00.000-08:00

Look, I'll be the first to admit that these Topps Glossy All-Star cards aren't the most exciting in the world, but they deserve blog time as much as any other card in my collection, so they must be posted!

I promise to move through them quickly.

Here we have the 1986 Topps Glossy All-Star #19 of 22. Much like the Glossy All-Star from 1985, it comes from a set far smaller than the amount of actual All-Stars. Also like its '85 predecessor there isn't much to the back of the card, and I'm not too impressed with the front of it, either. It's hard to tell from the scan, but the photo quality of this card is quite poor, even by 1986 standards. It's dark, blurry, and uninspired. There are definitely less Mets logos than the previous Glossy All-Star shot, and I don't think Strawberry did much in this at bat, perhaps just a line drive straight to the right fielder.

However, it should be noted that in the 1985 All-Star game Strawberry went a very impressive 1 for 1 with a walk, hit-by-pitch, two runs and a stolen base. Very much deserving of the gloss.

I own three of these cards.

Topps Glossy UPDATE

2008-10-31T09:53:00.000-07:00

Looks like I remembered right; the All-Star glossy cards were available in rack packs. Thanks also to Paul, of Paul's Random Stuff, for pointing it out in the comments!

I had hoped to get another piece of my collection up tonight, but family (pet) emergencies prevented me from getting to it. My apologies. Instead, enjoy this picture of a 1986 rack pack, with the Straw Man right on top!

1985 Topps Glossy All-Star #8 of 22

2008-10-29T07:35:00.000-07:00

You can click on the image to enlarge it, but you can probably already see that there isn't much to the back of this card. It's apparently a commemorative set made for the 1984 All-Star game. Very thoughtful of Topps to do, I suppose.

I don't really remember where these cards were available. They're made by Topps (according to the bottom of the back of the card), but surely they couldn't have been inserts. Were they specials in rack packs? You know, the ones where you kinda sorta got three packs in one? I seem to remember searching through bins in grocery stores trying to find "good" players. Though I wouldn't have done that until the later commemorative sets were released, as I would've only been three years old for this one (remember, back in these times if a card said '84, it meant it was made in '85).

A couple things stand out to me that I find interesting. How come there are only 22 cards made? According to Baseball Reference, there were far more than 22 guys on the roster, including some notable names on the bench. I wonder how they chose the 22. I don't have a complete set of these, so unfortunately, I can't break down the checklist for you. In the game, Straw went 1 for 2 with a stolen base... nice!

And how happy is Strawberry to be a Met? There are five Mets logos on the front of the card! Count 'em: hat, jersey, two on the arm, and the batting glove. It's a nice snapshot of the days before corporate branding became rampant.

Check out the field in the background. The grass looks choppy and overgrown, and there's a giant chain-link fence about 20 yards behind Darryl. Where was this? It almost looks like a high-school field. It's certainly not Shea Stadium, and it's definitely not Candlestick Park, the site of the '85 All-Star game. I guess we'll never know.

I own three of these cards, all of which are pretty badly mis-cut on either the front or back, but they sure are glossy!

Ebay rant #2

2008-10-27T15:11:00.001-07:00

Who knew the second installment of my ebay rants would come so soon? I'm sitting at my desk with under an hour to go in my day, thinking, "I wonder what I can blow $10 on right now!" And what better place to look than ebay, right?

Of course, I typed in Darryl Strawberry.

I scanned the listings, most for lots of cards I already own or are ridiculously overpriced. I did see a couple auctions for those old, 1988 Topps two-pocket folders; the ones where the back was the same as the reverse side of the actual 1988 Topps card. I had an Eddie Murray folder when I was younger (and living in northern Virginia when Murray was an Oriole).

I wasn't seeing anything good (or that I could justify purchasing to my wife), and then I stumbled on to the auction you see pictured above: a gem mint, PSA 10 1989 K-Mart Dream Team Darryl Strawberry #28!

I remember these, and have a few different sets in my closet. The sets were small (see the box here) and were ultra-glossy, especially by 1989 standards, and I'm sure were produced by the millions. It appears from the box that they were made by Topps. Unfortunately, I don't recall how I obtained these sets, as I don't remember buying them at a K-Mart, or even going in to one. Feel free to comment if you remember where you could get them (K-Mart is my guess).

In the description, the seller proudly claims that only three of these Gem Mint 10 Strawberry cards have been graded.

I'm sure, because why would anyone - except for these three morons - actually pay to have this card graded? The bare minimum cost I can find for a grading on the PSA (Professional Sports Authenticator) website is $5, and there is no way this card can have any more value than that, gem mint or not.

This was an investment that the seller will never recoup.

1984 Donruss #68

2008-10-24T07:41:00.000-07:00

From the back of the card: "The NL Rookie of the Year in '83...Joined the Mets in June and went on to finish second on club in HR and RBI...Was the No.1 amateur pick in the nation in June '80 and turned down numerous college scholarship offers to sign with Mets...Most Valuable Player in the Texas League in '82 when he hit .283 with 34 HR and 97 RBI at Jackson...Also set a club record wiith [sic] 45 steals...Got a single in his 1st pro at-bat for Kingsport in '80."

This was the first Darryl Strawberry RC I owned, and also my favorite card in the collection. More for sentimental reasons; my sister got it for me as a birthday gift many years ago. The screw down holder is more than a little excessive, but hey, it's my favorite. And back when I first got it (both the card and the holder) it was worth $10!! That's a lot of money to a little kid, and it made me appreciate even more that my sister purchased it for me.

There are, of course, other things l enjoy about the card, like the typo "wiith" that I never actually noticed until last night. I suppose there's a chance I once knew about it, as it seems like something Beckett would point out and designate with an "ERR", but if so, I'd completely forgotten.

And why are the stats listed in no particular order? It goes from the National League Rookie of the Year in 1983, followed by the #1 pick mention in 1980, then to the '82 Texas League MVP, and finally ends with a blurb about his 1980 year in Kinston. Very odd organization, don't you think?

The picture on the front really bothers me. I also "collect" hats, and am very anal about how they fit and look, especially with the brim on the front. I still wrap a rubber band around a baseball in the brim and let new hats sit for days, seeking that perfect curve. It's been difficult lately with these new style New Era caps, but I won't get into that. Strawberry's hat is a mess in this shot! It looks like he was grabbed real quickly by the photographer, looked frantically for his hat, and realized he'd been sitting on it. Why couldn't he have borrowed a better looking cap from Dwight Gooden? Surely he was nearby. Didn't he know this card would be immortalized in screw down holders everywhere for the rest of time? If there was one thing Darryl could change about his past, I bet it's this card.

I own just one of this card.

Ebay rant #1

2008-10-23T08:52:00.000-07:00

One of the things I spend a lot of my time doing during the day - other than reading card blogs and working - is searching ebay. Mostly for Darryl Strawberry stuff, sometimes for old wax boxes (old as in early 1990's, the kind I can justify buying but still give that thrill of ripping packs), but mostly for auctions where the item being sold is ridiculous and/or utterly worthless.

I'll post another piece of my collection soon - either tonight or early tomorrow - but I want to write my first of many-to-come Darryl Strawberry ebay rants.

The item: 1987 Topps Darryl Strawberry #460

Starting Price: $1.60 USD, $4.00 shipping

Description: "1987 TOPPS card for Darryl Strawberry from the NY Mets. On the lower part has a slight stain (see pics) from having had a tape [sic] to glue it to a letter. Otherwise pretty good condition."

The problem: The lowest price you'll pay for this one card (key word: one) is $5.60 with shipping! And what's the book value, 10 cents? At most?? For $5.00 I better be getting at least 50 of these. There's an autcion that I'm oh-so-tempted to bid on for 800 Strawberry cards from the '88 Topps set, so how could one justify bidding on just a single card from '87?

Another problem: The condition of the card is terrible (see larger picture here). The "slight stain" looks like the piece of tape is still on the card, but other than that it's still in "pretty good condition"? I don't think so. The top left corner is obviously bent in, and there's a weird stain/peel on the top right corner. The true value of this card can't be more than a nickel. I don't understand why the seller would even consider selling this particular card, let alone asking so much for it.

The problem with ebay is the perception that you can sell anything. This seller must be hoping for somebody to bid by mistake, which I sincerely hope doesn't happen. Arrrrggh!!! These postings frustrate me to no end.

Here's another gem of a 1987 Topps Strawberry auction. The guys makes it seem like he's doing us all a favor by putting this card up for sale. Check it out before the auction ends. Grrr...

Thanks for listening (reading). More of my collection to come soon.

1983 Topps Traded XRC, #108T

2008-10-21T20:32:00.000-07:00

From the back of the card: "His 3-run, 458-ft. Homer produced Game-Winning RBI in 6-4 win vs. Padres, 5-17-83. Cracked triple and Single with 3 RBI's and 2 Runs in win vs Expos, 6-12-83. 1983 HIGHLIGHTS: May 8: GOT FIRST MAJOR LEAGUE HIT AND RBI IN 10-5 WIN VS. REDS. MAY 16: HIS FIRST BIG LEAGUE HOMER WAS 2-RUN WALLOP IN METS' 11-4 DECISION VS. PIRATES AT PITTSBURGH."

Might as well start from the beginning with Darryl's first rookie card (more on that in a second). For the most part I'll post cards in chronological order, though in looking through one of my binders last night I realized that I made some errors in the ordering of the cards, so sometimes you'll just have to deal with an "out of order" post. I doubt that you'll mind. Anyway...

I don't totally understand the "XRC" designation on the card, and if I remember correctly from the Beckett Baseball Card Monthly magazine I used to read, it means Extended Rookie Card. These days, no chance something like that would fly; Strawberry's rookie card would've come out when he was in high school, and there would be only one. I think it has something to do with the fact that it wasn't widely available (meaning in packs). I could be way off base, so feel free to comment with the correct info.

A quick aside about Beckett. Note that I said I used to read it. I don't any more for a couple reasons: 1) card collecting has become to expensive a hobby to actively pursue. 2) The hobby is so dominated by rookies, and inserts, and thick shiny cards that I no longer recognize players I pull in packs. And that's sad, considering I follow baseball as closely as anybody, including the minors. 3) The "book value" of a card is meaningless. I don't even know where a card shop is in San Diego, so the value of anything has become the final selling price on ebay. Nothing more, nothing less.

Back to the card. I like the mention of a Mets-Padres game, since those are my first memories of Darryl Strawberry. I was only six months old at the time of the highlighted game, so I wasn't there, but it's still a nice tie in.

His homer on May 16th is referred to as a "wallop"... haven't heard that word in a while.

One final piece of info worth noting: In his 1982 season in Jackson, his final in the minors, he hit 34 homers and stole 45 bases. If I didn't know better and had to guess the ending to Strawberry's career based solely on this card, I'd guess no-doubt first ballot hall of famer.

I own two of these cards.

It begins

2008-10-20T20:53:00.000-07:00

My earliest memories of baseball were Mets-Padres games in San Diego's Jack Murphy Stadium. A lot has changed since those days; Qualcomm has since taken over as the name of the stadium which no longer even houses the Padres - they've moved to Petco Park in downtown San Diego.

Growing up in a family of Yankees fans, I suppose the Mets were the next best thing to come to southern California. This was long before the days of interleague play.

And besides, I loved Darryl Strawberry.

I don't know how it started. I don't know if it was his name that caught my four year old attention, or perhaps it was his height. Some how, some way, I singled him out as my favorite player. The collection began.

To this day, the collection has become quite large. Thousands of cards have been purchased, replica t-shirts folded in drawers, autographs carefully protected. The space my collection inhabits at the bottom of my closet can no longer contain its glory; it's time for a blog.

I've met Darryl a handful of times, and he seems to be a genuinely nice person. Troubled? Maybe, though not necessarily a bad person. He's made his mistakes and has certainly paid dearly for them. I do not intend to apologize on his behalf. But my collection is what it is; massive.

Over the life of this site I'll share my collection, piece by piece. I'll tell stories. I'll kill lots of time, both mine and yours.

Enjoy!